dawn, if the tide served--the picture was as beautiful;
more so, perhaps, for over the island, all in shadow, and against the
stars, you would see the palm-tops catching fire, and then the light of
day coming through the green trees and blue sky, like a spirit, across
the blue lagoon, widening and strengthening as it widened across the
white foam, out over the sea, spreading like a fan, till, all at once,
night was day, and the gulls were crying and the breakers flashing, the
dawn wind blowing, and the palm trees bending, as palm trees only know
how. Emmeline always imagined herself alone on the island with Dick,
but beauty was there, too, and beauty is a great companion.

The girl was contemplating the scene before her. Nature in her
friendliest mood seemed to say, "Behold me! Men call me cruel; men have
called me deceitful, even treacherous. _I_--ah well! my answer is,
`Behold me!'"

The girl was contemplating the specious beauty of it all, when on the
breeze from seaward came a shout. She turned quickly. There was Dick up
to his knees in a rockpool a hundred yards or so away, motionless, his
arms upraised, and crying out for help. She sprang to her feet.

There had once been an islet on this part of the reef, a tiny thing,
consisting of a few palms and a handful of vegetation, and destroyed,
perhaps, in some great storm. I mention this because the existence of
this islet once upon a time was the means, indirectly, of saving Dick's
life; for where these islets have been or are, "flats" occur on the
reef formed of coral conglomerate.

Emmeline in her bare feet could never have reached him in time over
rough coral, but, fortunately, this flat and comparatively smooth
surface lay between them.

"My spear!" shouted Dick, as she approached.

He seemed at first tangled in brambles; then she thought ropes were
tangling round him and tying him to something in the water--whatever it
was, it was most awful, and hideous, and like a nightmare. She ran with
the speed of Atalanta to the rock where the spear was resting, all red
with the blood of new-slain fish, a foot from the point.

As she approached Dick, spear in hand, she saw, gasping with terror,
that the ropes were alive, and that they were flickering and rippling
over his back. One of them bound his left arm to his side, but his
right arm was free.

"Quick!" he shouted.

In a second the spear was in his free hand, and Emmeline had cast
herself down on her knees,